Last Ship Off Polaris-G: A Central Galactic Concordance Novella by Carol Van Natta

Author:Carol Van Natta [Van Natta, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781946165039
Publisher: Chavanch Press
Published: 2017-08-25T06:00:00+00:00

8

* Interstellar Transit Point Blockade: CGC Military Frigate “Bassilon” * GDAT 3233.056 *

Captain Ivar Okeanos stood at half attention, hands clasped behind him, in the executive-officer briefing room of the Bassilon. The realtime holo conference made it seem like he stood in a crowded room of holographic ghosts of the blockade’s twenty ship captains, all looking at phantom Commodore Britton on the phantom raised dais. Space Div loved technology and protocol. He kept his expression neutral but interested as Britton touched the agenda on the tablet in her hand.

“Last item. Thanks to Paderau, Bassilon’s Citizen Protection Service Security Officer, we’ve just learned that this solar system has a second interstellar transit jump point. The main jump point we’re guarding is much closer to Polaris-Gamma, so the original point was abandoned because it's inconveniently situated beyond the ringed gas giant. The coordinates haven’t been published in CGC navigation updates in many years.”

Paderau was undoubtedly feeling proud of herself. He’d left the information in his dataspace in an easy place for her to find, but he’d had to let her overhear three increasingly blatant conversations with Sobek for her to recognize its significance and sound the alarm. He hoped it wasn’t too late.

“My strategy team”—by which Britton meant the minder forecasters she illegally kept on her staff instead of forcing them to transfer to the CPS Minder Corps—“believes it’s unlikely but possible that a few of the Polaris-Gamma quarantine breakers know about the old jump point and will try to use it.”

Long practice kept Ivar’s disgust off his face. Britton had to know the quarantine excuse was whale shit. A blight as virulent as the settlement company and the CPS claimed would have drawn a swarm of botanists and bioengineers, not a task force of twenty well-armed military ships.

“Two days ago, the settlement company shared intelligence that the Polaris-Gamma government might be planning a mass evacuation of its population.” Britton scrolled on her tablet. “Twelve hours ago, we lost all feeds from system comms and satellites, and in the last six standard hours, our active scans of the planet have detected disturbances consistent with increased ship traffic.” She paused and looked up. “Therefore, I am ordering Onilaja and Takala to the far jump point.” She swept the room with a sardonic gaze. “I believe the rest of us can easily prevent a hundred private yachts and merchant ships from reaching the main transit point, regardless of how quickly they scatter.”

The assembled captains chuckled, as she’d intended. Ivar couldn’t tell if she really believed there would only be a hundred ships instead of a thousand, or if she was giving herself cover for the inevitable internal audit inquiry into what was surely going to be a monumental clusterfuck.

Onilaja’s captain spoke up. “What are the rules of engagement for the second jump point?”

“Warn off, intercept, or disable.” She gave everyone a diamond-hard glance. “That goes for the entire task force. No kill shots unless they come at you with military-grade weapons. These aren’t jack crew or pirate clan, they’re misguided civilians, and we will treat them accordingly.

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